The government is concerned about criminals and terrorists using drones for an attack at a mass gathering like at Dickens on the Strand, Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, or an open roof game at Minute Maid or NRG stadiums.
The FBI’s director has told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that civilian drones pose a steadily escalating threat if they’re used by terrorists, criminal groups or drug cartels to carry out attacks in the U.S. And, that they have observed “repeated and dedicated” attempts by ISIS and al-Qaeda to use drones in attacks, as well as the MS-13 gang and Mexican drug cartels.
St. Mary University Center of Terrorism Law director Jeffrey Addicott said the FBI claims there are 1,000 open cases of Jihadists in the US, in every state in the country.
He said usually we react after an event has occurred.
“It’s a cat and mouse game. As technology increases, those that want to do us harm also increase their methodologies. People say, ‘when will it end?’ It will never end. We have to stay on our guard and be vigilant and encourage and support law enforcement as they do a very tough job,” said Addicott.
He said criminals need to be stopped before they launch the drone, so at an airport or event is too late.
Addicott said while drones can be helpful by delivering packages, they can also be dangerous doing surveillance or even dropping bombs.
“A bomb can be attached to a drone and flown into a crowd—a very low-cost way to engage in terror,” said Addicott.
He says law enforcement needs to put their money, time and effort to stop terroristic attacks.
The government wants drone regulations that require them to broadcast their identity and location so that they can be tracked by authorities.
Just last week, anti-drone measures were approved for U.S. law enforcement and homeland security agencies to have legal authority to monitor drone communications and to disable them in extreme cases as a result of such concerns.